While England bounced back and booked their place in the World Cup semi-finals, India’s defeat put their chances of reaching the final four in jeopardy.
England beat India by four runs to book their place in the semi-finals of the ICC Women’s Cricket World Cup on Sunday, leaving the tournament’s co-hosts in a five-way battle for the final four.
Chasing a winning target of 289, India stumbled from a good position and fell just short, being restricted to 284-5 in 50 overs.
India were on the road to victory for most of the innings. Smriti Mandhana was the top scorer with 88 runs while captain Harmanpreet Kaur hit 70 runs a ball.
England captain Nat Silver-Brant took 2 wins and 47 losses, while left-arm spinner Lindsay Smith delivered a tough pitch of 1 win and 40 draws in 10 overs, including the important wicket of Mandhana, putting the brakes on the home team and contributing to a stunning victory.
India suffered their third straight defeat after Australia and South Africa, shocking the home crowd at the Holkar Stadium.
This happened after England chose to bat first and Heather Knight made 109 off 91 balls to make it 288-8.
England achieved their fourth win in five games, joining defending champions Australia and South Africa in the semi-finals. The four-time champions will next face Australia at the same venue on Wednesday.
India still sit fourth in the table with four points after five matches and will need a major turnaround in their remaining two group games against New Zealand on Thursday and Bangladesh on Sunday.
“Smriti’s removal was a turning point,” Kaur said. “There was enough batting to finish the game, but I don’t know how it went the other way. Credit to England. They kept bowling well and kept getting wickets.”
Co-hosts Sri Lanka will play Bangladesh in Navi Mumbai on Monday.
India is coming
The chase didn’t get off to the best start. Pratika Rawal was caught behind for six and Charlie Dean trapped Harleen Dell’s leg in front of the wicket for 24 runs.
Mandhana and Kaul then combined for 42-2 with the pair adding 125 runs from 122 balls for the third wicket and India looked to be on track on a batsman-friendly surface.
Kaul completed his half-century off 54 balls, but Mandhana was content to play the role of anchor. She reached 50 pitches twice in a row from 60 pitches.
Manager Siver-Brandt made a breakthrough to remove Kaul, but India remained the favorites to win.
Deepti Sharma had 50 hits in 57 at-bats and Mandhana had 67 RBIs in 66 at-bats.
India needed 62 of their last 60 deliveries but the momentum changed when Mandhana went for a big shot against Smith in the 42nd over and was caught for a boundary.
India slipped from 234-3 to 262-6 off 33 deliveries, with Sharma catching out to Sophie Ecclestone (1-58) in the 47th over.
England ramped up the pressure as Amanjot Kaur (missed 18) and Sune Rana (missed 10) failed to finish the chase.
the knight shines
Knight scored his third ODI hundred to lead England’s innings.
England got off to a good start, with opening pitcher Tammy Beaumont (22 years old) and Amy Jones scoring 73 points. Jones scored 56 points off 68 pitches.
Off-spinner Sharma opened both innings before Knight took over the innings, which included 113 runs (38 off 49) for the third wicket with Shiver-Brandt.
“I fired up and stepped on the gas. I felt like I needed 300 on that pitch and I was disappointed that I couldn’t get there in the end,” Knight said. “I wanted to show an expressive performance for my 300th (international match), so I’m glad I was able to do that.”
Knight reached his century with 86 pitches, including 14 fours and one six. She ran out of steam in the 45th over, conceding five wickets for 31 runs in 5.1 overs as England slipped towards the end.
Sharma returned figures of 4-51 in 10 overs to chase his first half-century, but it wasn’t enough on the day.
